Noeleen Moran slams SF, rules herself out of election

NOELEEN Moran, who stood for Sinn Féin at the last general election, and who had been expected to do so again in 2020 has ruled herself out of the race.

Ms Moran had actually been on the originally selected Sinn Féin ticket, but because so long had passed from the time of her nomination, it became invalid and another selection convention was required.

That is about to take place but on Friday afternoon in an angry statement Ms Moran said she would not be in the race. “I will not be putting my name forward at the Sinn Féin selection convention for the forthcoming General Election. Sinn Féin has had since last August to select a candidate in Clare, yet they chose to leave it until this very late stage to do so.

“I do not think that is an appropriate or fair way to treat someone who was willing to put their name forward and had been selected for the previous 20 months.”

Despite Sinn Féin hitting 20% in a recent opinion poll the party has relatively little traction in Clare and whoever does stand for them has very little chance of winning a seat in next month’s poll. However Ms Moran’s statement is significant as she was a major figure in the party in Clare, standing in two local elections and a general election.

Owen Ryan